


First Valentine's

by ishtarelisheba



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluffapalooza, Fluffapalooza 2017, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishtarelisheba/pseuds/ishtarelisheba
Summary: It's Belle's first Valentine's Day in Storybrooke, and Rumpelstiltskin is determined to make it perfect for her.





	

It would be Belle’s first Valentine’s Day, this year, and Rumpelstiltskin was determined that it would be flawless. She had spent far too long with nothing and no one in this new world, but she would have everything that this holiday was beloved for. He would see to it.

He spent the two weeks before planning and shelling out cash, his first stop being her father’s flower shop. Rumpel bought every single solitary red rose in Game of Thorns. The old fool refused him at first, but enough money made even Moe French swallow his grudge and agree to deliver to Dove at the Victorian before dawn on the fourteenth. There was resentment and anger in French’s eyes, but he readily took the roll of hundreds and shoved it into his pocket.

Rumpel’s next stop had been the jewelry store. Nothing in the displays was _truly_ satisfactory, but he suspected that Belle wouldn’t appreciate a magically created set of gems. He racked up a bill high enough to make the jeweler gulp and blush. A set of jewels went home with him, to be hidden in the top of a never-used guest room closet until it was time to give them to their owner.

He’d very nearly bought out the pharmacy’s entire Valentine’s Day endcap and a significant portion of its candy aisle. It was somehow the only shop in town that had stocked Valentine’s presents of any quality. Later in the week, he’d gone by to pick up a prescription for Belle, deciding to grab another surprise or two while he was there. As luck would have it, he met David as the boy darted in after something for Snow and their daughter.

“You scrambling at the last minute, too?” the princeling had asked with a laugh.

Rumpel responded with an arch, “Not quite,” as David fell in behind him at the register.

“I can’t believe Sneezy doesn’t have more than this. He usually goes all out with the V-Day supplies.” David clutched a pair of plastic boxes of chocolates, looking easily over the other man’s shoulder at the bright red, lop-eared, velvet rabbit held in Rumpel’s hand. “Oh, right. You’ve got Belle to buy for this year! That must be awful, trying to scrape something together with nothing much left in town.”

Decidedly remorseless, Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. “I managed.”

It was rather easy to keep his plans for Belle’s first Valentine’s a secret. He wasn’t certain whether that was because she didn’t know what to expect, or whether she might not expect anything. She hadn’t mentioned the holiday or asked about it. He hoped that meant a surprise for her.

Rumpelstiltskin had Dove set everything out in the living room on Valentine’s morning. The flowers were delivered and the hidden presents brought out, arranged just so on every surface as well as the sofa cushions. He thought he might go mad waiting for Belle to wake. When she’d brushed her teeth and washed her face, he hurried her downstairs.

Belle gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth. “Oh, Rumpel! she said from behind them. “This is for me?”

“Every bit of it,” he said, leaning to brush a kiss over her temple.

The sofa possibly groaned under the weight of boxes of candy and precious stuffed animals, including an enormous gray koala that was bigger than she was. There were balloons and bouquets of flowers in crystal vases on every surface. The morning sun refracted dazzlingly off the facets in the glass.

She had tears in her eyes when she turned to look at him again. “What is it all _for?”_

“Valentine’s Day?” he said. “It’s… a day set aside to celebrate love. To celebrate the people whom one loves.”

“And you’re celebrating me?” she asked, glancing around at the sheer gobs of candy and flowers and presents.

“Of course I’m celebrating you.” His eyes were shining when she looked to him again. “You’re worth celebrating.”

“I must assume that chocolate and flowers are the customary offerings?” She giggled, reaching over the back of the sofa to run her hand over a large teddy bear’s ear.

Rumpel smiled as she walked around the room, her fingers ghosting over rose petals and stuffed animals as she went. She circled back to him and went up on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. He closed his arms around her, hugging her soundly.

“Thank you so much, Rumpel. It’s all so beautiful.”

“Oh, this is just the beginning. We’ve an entire day of Valentine’s celebration,” he told her, letting her go when her arms loosened around his neck. “I’m going to make breakfast. Afterward, I’ve made an appointment for you at Modern Fashions boutique-”

“Since when does anyone need an appointment at Modern Fashions?” she asked doubtfully.

“Since I wanted you to have the entire shop to yourself,” he replied with a cheeky grin. “We’ll go across to the diner for lunch, and after lunch, I’ve made an appointment at the spa for a full afternoon of pampering to end with a salon appointment next door. _Then_ we’ve a reservation at Luigi’s.”

“An all-day celebration!” Belle said, reaching to grab one of his hands in both of hers, beaming up at him.

Her happiness rubbed off easily, and he smiled broadly back at her. “All for you.”

He made her a breakfast of crepes and blueberries with sweet cream cheese, and Belle ate until she thought she might pop. Shopping for clothes turned out wonderfully. She’d never had such a relaxing experience in town. There were no townspeople prying and asking questions or staring. The salesgirls didn’t poke at her to buy anything. They left the store with armloads of bags, and she wore a new outfit out, as well. It was a dress from the window - sky blue with a cream lace overlay on the skirt. Rumpel had bought her a swingy little cream colored coat to go over it, since the cold was still biting, and a pair of towering, pale blue heels that had her clutching his arm as they walked down to his car to stow her purchases.

The spa appointment was like nothing she had ever experienced. The scents and treatments felt wonderful, and she wanted the large, buxom woman who provided her with a massage to be her new best friend by the end of her appointment. Rumpel, who had intended to wait in the foyer for her, had readily gone from room to room with her when she subtly expressed her discomfort with being left alone just yet. They walked over to the salon, and another two hours later, they left with her hair in the loveliest arrangement of curls and braids, each of them with a fresh manicure - Rumpel’s at her encouragement.

Belle was practically vibrating with nerves by the time they arrived at Luigi’s. She’d been out of the hospital basement for months, but she still wasn’t accustomed to doing so much, to having so much excitement out in town.

Their day didn’t _seem_ to have taken so much out of her until they were seated at the restaurant. Rumpel had bought out all of the tables so that they could have a fancy dinner alone. It wasn’t that she minded it so much (thought she did feel a twinge of guilt when Leroy came by to scowl in the door), but the day had worn on her more than she thought. They were halfway through the main course when her effervescence hit a wall and her smile faded.

“What’s the matter?” Rumpel asked quickly. “Is something not to your liking? The kitchen can fix something else for you.”

Her eyes darted up from her plate. She’d thought she was hiding it better than that. “Nothing,” she said, smiling before she went back to poking at her fried ravioli.

“Sweetheart? Something is wrong,” he went on.

She pulled up another hesitant smile for him. “You’ve gone to so much trouble…”

“Belle.”

“I’m just anxious. And tired, I suppose,” she said with a sigh. “I- I’d like to go home, Rumpel, please? I’m sorry.”

“No, no, there’s no reason to be sorry.” He got up right away, dropping his napkin onto the table. “We’ll go home, darling.”

He took the napkin from her lap and gestured the waitress over, asking her to fetch Belle’s coat. In only moments, he had her in the passenger seat of his car and they were on their way back across Storybrooke.

“I’m going to go up and change,” she said as they stepped through the front door. She rose onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I won’t be a few minutes.”

“It’s all right,” he said, a worried smile on his lips. “Take all the time you need, love.”

Belle changed into a little blue nightie that she was sure Rumpel would like. It would be far too flimsy for the weather were it not so warm in the house, but she swished the silk against her thighs, smiling at herself in the bathroom mirror before heading back downstairs.

The detritus of Valentine’s Day still cluttered the living room, though the sitting spaces had been cleared off. There was a crackling fire in the hearth in front of the sofa and Rumpel sat there waiting for her. Belle walked up behind him. He gave a pleased hum as she petted his hair, and he leaned his head back to look up at her.

“Today was wonderful, Rumpel. I’m so sorry I had to end dinner early,” she apologized.

“Don’t be sorry. Not at all.” He reached for her hand, taking and holding it as he urged her around to stand in front of him. “Were you able to enjoy any of it? Or did I ruin the entire day?”

“Oh, no, you didn’t ruin anything!” She smiled, climbing into his lap. “Everything was just beautiful. You’ll spoil me if you keep on this way, you know.”

He smirked up at her. “Mm, that _would_ be my intention.”

“Rumpel…” she began, hesitating.

“What’s the matter?”

“It was beautiful. The entire day way. And _so_ thoughtful. But I didn’t need all of those things.”

“Well, _need_ is objective…”

“I didn’t need ten dozen flowers, or my weight in chocolate. Or only the gods know how much money worth in diamonds.”

“I wanted you to feel loved.”

“All I need is you.”

He blinked, startled.

Belle leaned to kiss him, plucking gently at his lips with her own, and she rubbed her nose against his when she pulled back. “You. You’re all I need to make me feel loved on Valentine’s Day. On any day.”

“Me?” he breathed.

She nodded and slid her hands around the back of his neck, her fingers sinking into the fine ends of his hair. “Always just _you,”_ she said before kissing him again. 

She deepened the kiss this time, licking into his mouth and running the tip of her tongue behind his front teeth. Rumpel kissed her back, his tongue curling almost shyly against hers as she teased him into following her back into her own mouth. The feeling of his tongue stroking against her palate sent a frisson of desire down her spine and into her belly.

Belle pulled slowly away, her hands curled tight into his hair. “Make me feel loved,” she whispered to him before sitting back enough to see the effect she had on him.

His mouth had fallen open, lips still glistening from their kiss. His eyes, always dark, had gone nearly black with want. Rumpel’s hands slid up her hips to her waist, and he squeezed her there before they continued across her back. She squeaked in delight as he pulled her snug against him.

He rumbled, his voice husky and bordering on slurred with emotion. “I can do that…”


End file.
